Quinnipiac Poll: NJ Voters Want to Bring Back Millionaires Tax

New Jersey voters overwhelmingly support the reinstatement of a Garden State tax on millionaires if it would help balance the budget, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

They favor the tax by a margin of 64 to 28 percent, the Nov. 9-14 Quinnipiac poll of 1,788 voters found. That was the highest level of support recorded in three polls since Feb. 10.

“Maybe it’s Occupy Wall Street, or maybe Garden State voters just want to see the rich folks pay more, but support for the millionaires tax is 2-1, an all-time high,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Democrats have been pressing Republican Gov. Chris Christie to reinstate the so-called “millionaires tax,” which hit taxpayers earning $400,000 until it expired on Dec. 31, 2009. The previous millionaires tax followed the flight of $70 billion in wealth as "the rich," including small businesses, left the state.

"If I let my foot off their throat on the millionaires tax, they're coming after you with the gas tax," Christie has said.

According to the poll, the tax is most popular among Democrats, who support it 82 to 13 percent, and less so among independents, who back it 67 to 25 percent. Republicans, outnumbered in the state, oppose the tax by 54 to 38 percent.